Category: News

Masks For Pets

We have this pandemic thing and this virus seems to be jumping to our pets as well…..as a matter of fact the dog that tested positive has died…..

The first dog to be diagnosed with the coronavirus in the US has died. Buddy, 7, had tested positive in April in Staten Island, National Geographic reports. The family pet “was the love of our lives,” Allison Mahoney said. “I can’t wrap my head around it.” Few details of Buddy’s case had been released since the announcement that he was infected early last month. But two veterinarians who reviewed the German shepherd’s medical records said he probably suffered from lymphoma, as well, which the family didn’t know he had. The vets said the relationship between the illnesses is not clear; the cancer might have made the dog more vulnerable to the virus, or it might be the virus that made him ill. Not much is known about how the virus affects animals; a USDA site lists confirmed cases.

The Mahoneys described a frustrating ordeal, per National Geographic. “You tell people that your dog was positive, and they look at you [as if you have] 10 heads,” Allison Mahoney said. With fewer than 25 pets known to have confirmed cases of the virus, the family and records on Buddy could increase understanding of the toll on animals. Mahoney’s husband, who also had contracted the coronavirus, first suspected Buddy had the same problem when the dog began breathing heavily in April. “Without a shadow of a doubt, I thought [Buddy] was positive,” Robert Mahoney said. The family took the pet to three vets before finding one who’d give Buddy a coronavirus test. Even after Buddy died, his vet couldn’t get health departments interested in running tests to learn about the illness.

(A cat in Britain just tested positive.)

Then I saw where some celebs were trying to put masks on their dogs…..please do not try this!

Animal experts have issued the stark waring in response to a disturbing trend that has seen worried owners using the masks believing it will stop their pets from contracting the killer virus.

However according to Dr Melissa Meehan, a vet based in Melbourne, Australia, it can cause stress and anxiety for cats and dogs and in the worst scenario they could die.

She told Yahoo News : “As a vet I am constantly treating dogs and cats that suffer from stress and anxiety, which impacts on their health and mental wellbeing and also causing behavioural issues.

“Putting a mask on a dog or cat can absolutely cause distress.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pet-owners-warned-putting-face-22422022

Please read carefully and pass it on so that people do not harm their furry companions.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Aquariid……Capriconid

Meteor showers….in case the name was throwing you.

About twenty years ago I got to witnessed the Leonid shower…it was spectacular!

And ever since each shower that was appearing in the night sky my region has been overcast and the shower was not seen….every damn time!

There is more showers coming this Summer and hopefully the clouds will be away from the Coast so they can be seen.

When the door for one sky show closes, another one opens—and with the comet Neowise starting to fade, two sets of meteor showers are ready to fill that slot. If the weather holds up, space enthusiasts should be able to catch a glimpse this week of both the Delta Aquariid and Alpha Capricornid meteors, with the former set to peak Monday through Wednesday, and the latter set for its biggest show on Thursday, USA Today reports. AccuWeather notes that your best chance for a “celestial double feature” would be Tuesday night, with prime viewing time after 1am.

The difference between the two meteor showers: You may spot up to 25 Delta Aquariid meteors per hour, though they’re typically faint, per the American Meteor Society. The Alpha Capricornid showers, on the other hand, usually produce just five or so meteors per hour, but “what is notable about this shower is the number of bright fireballs produced,” the AMS notes. The group says the Delta Aquariids will be active through Aug. 23, while the Capricornid meteors will keep doing their thing through Aug. 15. To best see either show, experts recommend finding a sky with little sky pollution, lying flat on your back or in a reclining lawn chair, and gazing toward the southern horizon. “In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors,” NASA says, per CBS News.

People are trying to find activities that will not put them at risk of virus contamination….this is the perfect one…..for it does not involve dealing with other people.

If you can try watching you will not be disappointed……believe me it is a spectacular sight.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Person….Man….Woman….Camera….TV

Closing Thought–28Jul20

Rambling….Babbling…..

I have been listening to Trump ramble on and on….and most times I scratch my head as to what he is actually talking about.

Is it the test that doctors give patients over 65 to determine if they have creeping dementia?

But Trump’s latest interview has got more than me wondering what the Hell he is talking about.

Donald Trump has just given one of his most bizarre TV interviews of all time – we’re calling it now.

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, the president took us through a test he did to prove his cognitive skills.

Explaining exactly how his acuity test went down, Trump said:

The first questions are very easy. The last questions are much more difficult. Like a memory question. He’ll go ‘person, woman, man, camera, TV’. So they’ll say ‘Can you repeat that?’

https://www.indy100.com/article/trump-person-woman-man-camera-tv-video-9633671

He has told me how damn smart he is…..and that he can pass a cognitive test…..and play golf……but what the Hell is that all about?

Just wondering.

Full disclosure….my test words were…..chair, sunset, blue and leopard and after several minutes they ask you to repeat them back to the doctor…..

Medical update:  my pre-op appointment is good….and the next eye surgery will go forward tomorrow, 29 July…….so warning I will be missing most of the day.

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Russians And Windows Are Back!

I recently wrote a post about the people that are walking our windows in Russia. A couple of doctors and a whistle blower police major…well it does not stop with those few…..but read about these tragic “accidents”…..https://lobotero.com/2020/07/18/beware-of-russian-windows/

A Russian Olympic figure skater has “fallen” out a window…..

Olympic figure skater Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya has died aged 20 after reportedly falling out of a window.

Russian-born Alexandrovskaya represented Australia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

The cause of the death has yet to be confirmed but reports claim she “died on the spot” following the incident in Moscow.

Alexandrovskaya retired from the sport earlier this year due to injury.

Tributes have poured in for the athlete, a two-time Australian National Champion pair-skating with partner Harley Windsor.

Windsor, 23, posted a heartbreaking message on social media.

(mirror.co.uk)

I have got to ask….what is it about Russians and windows?

I have asked and I ask gain….what is it about Russians and windows?

Summer on the Gulf Coast…it has been raining for 3 days…..and more to come……Gonzalo is waiting to strike.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

News Round-Up

If you are old enough to remember black and white movies then you must remember those newsreels before the movies began.

These brought to the audiences news from around the world that was not readily available……as part of my FYI Saturday I would like to try and do the same type of thing for my readers.

Think you have read or heard just about all the news about our present pandemic?

Think again.

If you must get the virus then go to Uzbekistan, in Central Asia…..why?

(Getty Photo)

The government of Uzbekistan is so sure of the hygiene and safety measures it’s put in place to protect tourists against getting COVID-19 that “the president is prepared to put money where his mouth is.” That’s per a statement from the country’s tourism ambassador to the UK, announcing an unusual approach to boost tourism within its borders during the pandemic: an offer of $3,000 to any visitor who contracts the coronavirus there, Vice reports. “We want to reassure tourists they can come to Uzbekistan,” adds Sophie Ibbotson in the statement. The $3,000 figure was arrived at because that’s about the cost of the medical care that Uzbekistan citizens get for free get if they’re infected. It’s all part of the nation’s “Safe Travel Guaranteed” campaign, given the OK by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to coax travelers back.

The compensation is conditional: The tourist must have been exploring Uzbekistan with a local tour guide who’s been certified in safety and hygiene guidelines. There’s a reason why the country is making this investment: Insider notes it’s the fourth fastest-growing tourism market, according to UN stats. Currently Uzbekistan is welcoming back visitors from low-risk nations like Japan and South Korea; those coming from elsewhere will have to self-quarantine for 14 days when they get there. The Telegraph notes Cyprus has taken a similar tack, offering to pay vacation costs for any tourists infected while visiting. Uzbekistan has had just 88 deaths since the pandemic started, with about 17,000 cases overall out of a country of 33 million. The country was one of the first to implement strict lockdowns and border closings in March when the virus started taking hold worldwide.

Ever heard of “pornification”?

Are women more sexually liberated than ever before? So suggests the burgeoning sexual marketplace. From vibrators and erotica to bondage and beyond, the marketplace has transformed transgressive sexual practices into everyday household affairs. But is this sexual freedom truly liberating, or does it transform women from sexual objects of male desire to sexual subjects in their own right?

These were the questions we sought to explore in our study investigating young women’s sexual and intimate lives through a series of in-depth interviews. In the course of these interviews, which took place in a southern state in the United States, we were struck by how the women’s sexual and intimate relationships reflect current trends in pornography, particularly in relation to themes of dominance and submission.

https://theconversation.com/wo-men-on-top-the-perils-of-the-pornification-of-popular-culture-141617

Could there be an anti-aging solution on the horizon?

Gérard Karsenty was a young scientist trying to make a name for himself in the early 1990s when he first stumbled upon a finding that would go on to transform our understanding of bone, and the role it plays in our body.

Karsenty had become interested in osteocalcin, one of the most abundant proteins in bone. He suspected that it played a crucial role in bone remodelling – the process by which our bones continuously remove and create new tissue – which enables us to grow during childhood and adolescence, and also recover from injuries.

Intending to study this, he conducted a genetic knockout experiment, removing the gene responsible for osteocalcin from mice. However to his dismay, his mutant mice did not appear to have any obvious bone defects at all. “For him, it was initially a total failure,” says Mathieu Ferron, a former colleague of Karsenty who now heads a research lab studying bone biology at IRCM in Montreal. “In those days it was super-expensive to do modification in the mouse genome.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/04/does-the-key-to-anti-ageing-lie-in-our-bones

The hot item for journalists and for discussion these days is that of racism…….

Organisations globally are facing pressure from staff to do more to confront racism amid global protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in the United States.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation asked 24 non-government organisations (NGOs), charities and United Nations agencies how many racism complaints they received in the past year, and if staff had faced disciplinary action in the past five years.

Seven would not respond to questions or share data, a further eight said they had received no reports of racism against employees over the last year, while four said it was not possible to obtain clear data.

Only five organisations confirmed they had dealt with racism complaints and provided numbers.

https://news.trust.org/item/20200714031405-qlpbp/

This report is indicative of how the world is handling the issue of racism…..not well at all.

Do you “nuke” hot dogs and such?

Well that may not be such a good idea…..

If you’ve ever been tempted to nuke a hot dog or a few strips of bacon in the microwave instead of firing up the grill or dirtying a frying pan, we get it. The convenience of a microwave is unrivaled in the kitchen. But using one to cook processed meats isn’t doing you any favors. The problem comes in the form of three little letters: COP, which stands for Cholesterol Oxidation Product. What are COPs and why should they get in the way of you enjoying tasty microwaved breakfast sausage?

According to BioMed Central, when foods derived from animals are heated, the cholesterol in these foods oxidizes and degrades, forming Cholesterol Oxidation Products. COPs can contribute to conditions such as atherosclerosis, which The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute describes as a hardening of the arteries that restricts the flow of oxygen-rich blood to other parts of your body. COPs are a necessary evil if you eat meat, eggs, and other animal products since most of these things need to be cooked before they can be consumed. But the combo of the hot, fast heat of a microwave and some ingredients commonly found in processed meat makes the situation worse. Here’s why.

https://www.mashed.com/228044/you-should-never-microwave-processed-meat-heres-why/

News from around the world…..for this Saturday…..

Stay Safe……Stay Well

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–24Jul20

Today is my late Mom’s birthday……she would have been 99.

I was waiting for the GOP Convention to begin in August….I have this whole post about the riot in 1960….in case it is something that you know little about…..https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20100822/NEWS/801246165

But my attempt to educate will come to naught…..it appears that Trump as head of the GOP has called off the convention…..

“The timing for the event is not right,” President Trump said Thursday. “To have a big convention is not the right time.” So Republicans will not be gathering in Jacksonville next month for their national convention. Trump made the announcement during his coronavirus briefing at the White House, saying he wants to protect his supporters from the coronavirus and the protesters, the Washington Post reports. Florida reported 173 COVID-19 deaths Thursday, a record for a single day. Trump said that aides told him the convention could be held safely but that he told them the timing is “just not right with what’s happened recently.” Thousands of people, he said, “desperately” want to attend the event in Jacksonville. “The pageantry, the signs, the excitement were really, really top of the line,” Trump said. Around 10,000 people were expected, far fewer than would normally attend the party’s convention, per the AP.

The convention originally was planned for Charlotte, and Trump said the formal selection of the party’s presidential nominee will still take place there. Trump had pulled the main event from North Carolina after disagreeing with the governor about pandemic restrictions. Trump said he’ll still deliver an acceptance speech in some form. Fundraising for the Florida event also has lagged, per the New York Times. Instead, more than 2,000 delegates will vote by proxy, and 336 delegates will be invited to take part in person in Charlotte. A Republican lawyer in Jacksonville was glad to hear of the cancellation, saying the party hadn’t done any planning. “They were having trouble getting people to come here,” he said. “No one in their right mind would come here. This thing was a nightmare for our community.”

I am hoping that Trump has learned the error of not taking the pandemic seriously.

But wait!

Vote by proxy?

Is that not the same thing as mail in voting?

I thought that was riddled with fraud.

Maybe that is only for the general election when he will lose.

Just a thought.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

“F*cking Bitch”!

They say the the people in Congress are civil to each other even when they disagree….with such politeness as “gentlemen” and “gentle ladies”….when referring to each other……and then you have the MORONS like the Yahoo from Florida…..

Tensions flared on Capitol Hill this week when a Republican lawmaker challenged Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on issues of crime and policing in an unusual — and decidedly personal — confrontation on the Capitol steps.

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) was coming down the steps on the east side of the Capitol on Monday, having just voted, when he approached Ocasio-Cortez, who was ascending into the building to cast a vote of her own.

In a brief but heated exchange, which was overheard by a reporter, Yoho told Ocasio-Cortez she was “disgusting” for recently suggesting that poverty and unemployment are driving a spike in crime in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.

“You are out of your freaking mind,” Yoho told her.

Ocasio-Cortez shot back, telling Yoho he was being “rude.”

The two then parted ways. Ocasio-Cortez headed into the building, while Yoho, joined by Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), began descending toward the House office buildings. A few steps down, Yoho offered a parting thought to no one in particular.

“Fucking bitch,” he said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/508259-ocaasio-cortez-accosted-by-gop-lawmaker-over-remarks-that-kind-of

These people demand respect from others yet they allow a bonehead like Yoho to exist as a Congressman…..seems okay since it is Florida we are talking about.

These are the times we live in……no civility (evident here as well as the House)…..

We need to rid ourselves of toads and slugs in the government…..in other words…..

VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

A category during the pandemic…..

It seems that the governor of Georgia (the state not the country) has decided to BAN….read that term again….BAN the wearing of face masks during the rise in cases in his state….

Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places, the AP reports. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks. An increasing number of other states order residents to wear masks in public, including Alabama, which announced such a ban Wednesday. But Kemp, a Republican, has instead been trying to encourage voluntary mask wearing, including telling fans that reduced infections from mask-wearing would make college football season possible. Kemp’s move is likely to infuriate local officials in communities that had acted, including Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Rome and the governor’s hometown of Athens-Clarke County. Overall, mask orders by Wednesday were covering 1.4 million of Georgia’s more than 10 million residents.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was the first local official to defy Kemp and order masks, and had said police would start writing $500 citations to businesses that didn’t enforce the law. “It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us,” Johnson wrote on Twitter Wednesday night. “Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.” Kemp’s new order also bans local governments from requiring masks on public property, which void requirements that some governments have imposed for citizens to wear masks inside city and county buildings. Kemp was among the first governors to ease earlier restrictions, and while infections declined for weeks afterwards, they began to rise in June. Wednesday’s numbers showed nearly 2,800 people hospitalized statewide with the COVID-19 respiratory illness, the highest on record and a number that’s nearly doubled since the beginning of the month. Georgia is now averaging 24 deaths over the past week, the highest level in nearly four weeks.

Yet another Republican authoritarian that decides what the people need…..the freedom of choice will be taken away……and yet voters still rush to the side with every election…..and there is where the category comes in…..

Stupid Is As Stupid Does.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

FYI Sunday

These days we are washing our hands more and more and using hand sanitizers by the gallon……

Because I try to give useful info when I run across it there is something we need to know about some of the hand sanitizer out there……it could be hazardous to your health…..

Using hand sanitizer? Might be good to check that label. The Food and Drug Administration is adding more hand sanitizers to its list of products to avoid because they contain methanol—which is toxic when ingested or absorbed by the skin, USA Today reports. The FDA is telling Americans to avoid 59 different kinds of hand sanitizer, including some that have been recalled or face possible recall for containing the dangerous ingredient. The agency says it has “seen a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products that are labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but that have tested positive for methanol contamination.”

Seems all the latest hand sanitizers on the list are produced in Mexico—including over two dozen sold by 4E Global, many of which carry the Blumen label, per CNN. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that methanol is used in industrial settings as an alternative fuel source, solvent, and pesticide, and can cause a variety of ill health effects including headaches, seizures, coma, blurred vision, and permanent blindness. The CDC suggests using an alcohol-based sanitizer with at least 70% isopropanol and 60% ethanol.

Please if you use hand sanitizer read the label and make sure that it is safe to use….

Be Well….Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Weekend’s Useless News

Most of us have had enough of the pandemic chaos…..and more than enough of president’s claims and that of his sycophants…..and after all it is the weekend and I want to do something different….and news you cannot use is that difference…..

Trump has said that we will return to the Moon and those billionaires are slobbering all over the place at the riches that can be made from a return trip to the Moon…..what riches?

Using a small device called the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument attached to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, a team of scientists found that there may be vastly more subsurface metals beneath the Moon’s surface than previously thought.

The discovery could force us to rethink the evolution of the Moon itself. The dominant theory is currently that a collision between a Mars-sized space object and the Earth sheered off the Moon as a result of collapsing gravitational forces clumping dust and debris together.

https://futurism.com/nasa-potential-caches-metal-moon

There is lots of talk these days about a manned mission to Mars in the coming decade….now there may be a faster and cheaper way of getting there…..

A crewed mission to Mars is still many years out — if not decades.

But as rocket technology makes massive strides, scientists are starting to wonder what the best way to get there could be. And one new idea, Space.com reports, involves a side trip to another of our star system’s planetary bodies.

To make visits to the Red Planet cheaper and faster, scientists are arguing that making a Venus flyby could make a lot of sense.

https://futurism.com/scientists-flyby-venus-mars-mission

Keeping with the space thingy……we have a new branch of the military…….the Space Force and now states are competing for the dollars that will come with the establishment of this branch….but this is the US Space Command….as I read it is part of the Air Force….

The Department of the Air Force has received nominations from 26 states that want to host U.S. Space Command headquarters, the service announced July 5.

“We were pleased with the strong response the Air Force received from across the country,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in a statement.

The Air Force did not disclose which 26 states have submitted bids. The service plans to choose a location for U.S. Space Command headquarters in January 2021.

Air Force says 26 states have submitted bids to host U.S. Space Command

Scramble for those taxpayer dollars to be wasted…..

If you are a botanist then this is amazing news…..

Thanks to the work of squirrels, researchers in Siberia were able to grow viable Silene stenophylla plants from 32,000-year-old seeds. This incredible event, which happened in 2012, is still having a dramatic event on the scientific community and now Austrian researchers are trying to sequence the plant’s DNA to find out how it was able to survive so long.

The story starts over 10 years ago, when a team of Russian, Hungarian, and American scientists recovered the frozen seeds in 2007. They were buried 125 feet underground, deep in the Siberian permafrost. The team was investigating the burrows of ancient squirrels when they made the discovery. Fruit and seeds had been perfectly sealed from the elements thanks to the squirrels’ burrowing techniques.

Researchers Examine Plants Brought Back to Life From 32,000-Year-Old Seeds

The mind is a terrible thing……..to waste.

How do you view reality?

Psychologists have only begun to unravel the concept of “personality,” that all-important but nebulous feature of individual identity. Recent studies suggest that personality traits don’t simply affect your outlook on life, but the way you perceive reality.

One study published in 2017 in the Journal of Research in Personality goes so far as to suggest that openness to experience changes what people see in the world. It makes them more likely to experience certain visual perceptions. In the study, researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia recruited 123 volunteers and gave them the big five personality test, which measures extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. That last personality trait involves creativity, imagination, and a willingness to try new things.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/open-minded-people-have-a-different-visual-perception-of-reality

There you have the most absolutely useless news for this Saturday.

Learn Stuff!

Have A Day!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”